Collective Awakening :: Pluto In Aquarius

We’re collectively waking up.

One of the weird, yet cool things about being on Tiktok since the pandemic has been seeing collective ideas shared in a public forum. 

Of course, taking the algorithm into consideration, I have to consider that my feed is confirmation bias in some way or another.

But, I’ve been noticing the steady awakening in the collective from everything that we once idealized, to seeing its cracks and flaws. 

If you’ve been to any of my moon circles, you know I haven’t shut up about Pluto in Aquarius for the past two years. 

I’ve been excited about and felt the collective shift coming as many Astrologers have been anticipating.  

Pluto works in stages and the first stage is often a dismantling. Pluto comes in and clears out any structures, beliefs, shadows suppressions, power and control dynamics that have been holding us back – both personally and collectively.  

And the more you pay attention to global events and crisis, you see extinction bubbles about to burst, Gen Z (Pluto in Sagittarius generation) overthrowing governments, people unionizing to protest, and more.  

And what feels like collapse is often the rubble clearing before rebuilding a stronger foundation.  

I keep seeing people joking (and not joking) about “recession indicators” – with certain types of music, style and more returning, referencing the 2008 recession.  

And I can’t help but make the connection that the first time Pluto moved into Capricorn was January 25, 2008.  

Does a recession always begin Pluto’s ingress into a new sign? I haven’t dug that deep, but I do see the pattern in this particular instance.  

But the thing I’m seeing most clearly, is the death of the things we once put on a pedestal.  

If you’ve been on Instagram anytime in the past year, you can’t help but notice the collective detachment, disengagement, and most likely burn out with the platform.  

People are waking up to influencer culture’s ickiness in large quantities. They are seeing the collective weirdness that we’ve been wired to perform for likes and views (obviously this doesn’t apply to everyone as some people escaped the pull into social media culture). 

But so many people were subconsciously taught to take photos and videos of everything they do to put on their story or feed. You see the dramatic difference looking at a concert audience in 2015 and 2025 and the sea of phones that now plague every moment of entertainment.  

People have begun to shrink themselves due to being in a potentially constant surveillance state. So much of Gen Z I believe doesn’t feel safe embodying their authentic selves because doing so risks “being cringey” and potentially being video taped and put on the internet. 

Collective shaming, rage baiting, and cancel culture has gotten out of hand, and I’m witnessing many people begin to leave platforms because they’re no longer getting the benefits out of social media that once formed a sense of (even virtual) community.  

It’s really fun witnessing people’s awareness around how the simplicity of life in the 90s and early 2000s with the lack of immediate gratification really made life more enjoyable.  

There were slower releases of dopamine which was more sustainable in the long term. This is one of the many reasons I switched back to a film camera years ago.  

But I see people trading in their smart phones for flip phones, cancelling things like streaming services due to boycotts and returning to hard formats of media again.  

And I believe this is just the very beginning of our collective waking up and the returning to community that Pluto in Aquarius promises.  

Unfortunately, I’ve had very seemingly disheartening predictions for our country for the past two years, but only because I’ve known deep down what was needed for people to wake up to the misalignment. If all of the misalignment stayed at a steady hum, it would be easier to ignore and continue to brush under the rug.  

Sometimes, things unfortunately have to get really loud to become noticeable. You can often ignore the paper cut on your finger, but once it becomes infected – it needs to be tended to. 

I hope that with all of these awarenesses that have been unfolding this past year, that we are able to start implementing shifts in the upcoming One Year.  

The Nine Year has made it so we can’t ignore what isn’t working anymore. It’s peeled back the covers from our eyes to see the inefficiencies and places of brokenness in everything – which often can lead to a depressing year when we’re in 9 energy.  

But it’s the cocoon before metamorphosis.  

It’s the dark night of the soul before the manifestation.  

It’s the darkness of Winter before the blooming of Spring. 

I’ve felt a shift personally the past month into a place of more hope for the future.  

Even if things feel like they’re still collapsing, or that we’re still only in the recognizing what isn’t working phase before being able to implement change, it feels like humanity is being restored in some places.  

A lot of people are waking up to the separateness that has been manufactured to keep us fighting each other instead of coming together to build together.  

It’s waking us up to the overly individualistic narrative that “I don’t owe anyone anything” is harmful and doesn’t build community and a shared sense of togetherness.  

So many are lonelier than ever, and we’re waking up to these narratives that have kept us separate and from truly connecting with each other. 

My favorite understanding is that “boundaries are because I love you and because I also love me.”  

It’s the both, and.  

It’s not hyper-independence or lack of empathy and compassion.  

It’s that I honor and love myself and my neighbor, and we can coexist healthily. 

I didn’t expect to see so much collective awareness and shifts in perspectives this early on in Pluto’s journey, but it makes sense with it being in Aquarius.  

Aquarius is the humanitarian, what’s best for the community. It’s innovation and restoration of the collective “we.” 

And I’m so excited to see where we go together, even if it’s just weathering the storm together first.